One of the most disturbing stories of the past few weeks has been the arrest of at least seven Israelis on charges of spying or carrying out covert activities on behalf of Iran. Nadav Shragai expresses the shock that he and his compatriots feel toward such betrayal:

The astonishment deepens when examining the profiles of these spies and their predecessors: young and old, ultra-Orthodox and secular, educated and unschooled, immigrants from the former USSR and native-born Israelis. They represent a complete spectrum, typically motivated by greed, though sometimes by ego, feelings of discrimination, and weakened ties to the state.

These questions become even more pressing when contrasting their actions with the countless extraordinary displays of commitment, dedication, and sacrifice for the nation over the past year.

The answer, [however], isn’t complicated. . . . A Jew can indeed be unlearned or educated, clever or foolish, and can be your enemy or friend, inferior or superior, but he cannot be Jewish without a Jewish core.

Today, Shragai points out, is the date commemorated by tradition as the anniversary of the biblical foremother Rachel’s death. He sees in the lore surrounding her a way to appreciate this Jewish core:

We should all familiarize ourselves with the notably relevant consolation prophecy of Jeremiah, the prophet of destruction, who was the first to portray Rachel as a mother shedding tears for her children; the first to describe her weeping, which pierces the gates of heaven, paving the way for the ingathering of exiles and the return of children to their borders.

Jeremiah’s prophecy about Rachel’s children returning to their borders is so relevant today—we weep for our fallen sons, but know they enable the continuation of [Jeremiah’s] prophecy: . . . that there is hope for our future, and that our kidnapped sons and daughters will yet return to their territory.

In October, a young Mauritanian national murdered an Orthodox Jewish man on his way to synagogue in Chicago. This alone should be sufficient sign of the rising dangers of anti-Semitism. Nathan Diament explains how the Anti-Semitism Awareness Act (AAA) can, if passed, make American Jews safer:

We were off to a promising start when the AAA sailed through the House of Representatives in the spring by a generous vote of 320 to 91, and 30 senators from both sides of the aisle jumped to sponsor the Senate version. Then the bill ground to a halt.

Fearful of antagonizing their left-wing activist base and putting vulnerable senators on the record, especially right before the November election, Democrats delayed bringing the AAA to the Senate floor for a vote. Now, the election is over, but the political games continue.

You can’t combat anti-Semitism if you can’t—or won’t—define it. Modern anti-Semites hide their hate behind virulent anti-Zionism. . . . The Anti-Semitism Awareness Act targets this loophole by codifying that the Department of Education must use the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of anti-Semitism in its application of Title VI.